Significant investment in OSHC to help accommodate South Australian working families

Extending out-of-school-hours care to suit the modern family will benefit both parents and their children

The State Government is offering more flexibility for working families.

The State Government is making out-of-school-hours care (OSHC) more accessible across the state to offer families more support and flexibility – and help parents get back into the workplace more quickly.

The changes follow stakeholder-convened OSHC roundtables held as part of the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care. The Department for Education, the Education Standards Board, school principals and other stakeholders discussed the vital role of OSHC in South Australia, noting there is not a one-size-fits-all to accommodate modern Australian family needs.

Discussions touched on the significant investment required into the OSHC workforce and facilities for care services to be more accessible for South Australian families.

“Our working hours are changing so we need more flexibility for working families,” says Alicia Flowers, Out of School Hours Care Association SA deputy chair and Torrensville Primary School Out of School Hours Care director.

“Significant investment in OSHC is going to help the OSHC sector accommodate the working families. OSHC is in high demand and is an important part of school communities as it supports a lot of single parents and working women.

“Having a stay-at-home mum who picks you up at 3pm after school isn’t the reality for many families any more.”

The State Government’s support for the OSHC sector has involved the appointment of a new director to oversee the Department for Education’s response to the Royal Commission recommendations, as well as further investment in existing services.

“We know OSHC is a really important service to support families to balance work, study and life commitments, and to support children’s development and learning,” the Department for Education’s OSHC director Nicole Cawley says. “Key focus areas for the OSHC reform team will be improving access where demand is currently not being met, working to ensure consistent high-quality services, and increasing support for existing services centrally.

“We’re excited about the work ahead and driving improvements that will have real benefits for children and their families.”

The changing face of care that supports the whole family

Supporting the needs of local families in a changing world is driving a northern suburbs preschool to work towards putting in place a new trial that will offer greater flexibility to parents and their young children.

Adams Road Children’s Centre in Craigmore is looking to offer kindy care to families from term three this year, offering a wraparound service that offers care and stability for its young charges. The trial is in response to the recommendation from the Royal Commission into Childhood Education and Care that preschools offer out-of-hours care to support the needs of families in local communities.

“One of the things we find in our community is parents can find the traditional preschool hours difficult to juggle with their work and family demands,” preschool director Megan Noack, right, says.

“The demands on families have changed since preschool was first introduced and those traditional hours do not suit every family. Providing care before and after preschool sessions will provide us with another avenue to support families and their children’s preschool attendance, which is really exciting.

Adams Road Children's Centre preschool director Megan Noack with preschool children. Picture: Russell Millard

“We see wraparound care and stability as being a significant benefit of this, with continuity of learning for children and consistency for families. Children will only have to be dropped off here in the morning so they won’t need to have multiple transition points between different services. We see that as benefiting children because they can establish relationships with our educators and with other children in the one setting rather than having to move across several settings in the day.”

The centre, which cares for close to 100 local preschool children, has strong ties with the local community and Noack is confident the trial will extend these ties even further.

“We know that relationships are really important to children and to families and that having a genuine partnership with families supports children’s growth and development, and that’s what we are committed to here,” she says.

“We recognise that our families are our children’s first teachers and we work in partnership with families to provide the best outcomes for children.”

While final details are yet to be confirmed, Noack believes more staff will be needed when the trial gets underway.

“We’re not just about working with our families here but with the whole community and how we can best support learning and children’s development for the whole community,” Noack says. “It’s really nice that we can provide this service to offer more support to families.”

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